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CHAPTER III.
ARKANSAS UNDER THE OLD FRENCH REGIME, 1700-63.
During this time, 1700 to 1763, several governors had charge of the
settlements and posts in Louisiana, winch included all the Mississippi
Valley south of the Illinois country. The settlers, as a rule, did not
prosper; malaria and yellow fever killed many of them, and they spent too
much time hunting mines, pearls, buffalo wool (!), hides and furs. Some
of the Governors were very corrupt and inefficient. Nothing was done to
settle the interior of the country and Tonty's post on the Arkansas was
neglected.
The first attention the Arkansas region received was in 1712. Louis
XIV, having become wearied with the heavy expenditures necessary for
the government of Louisiana, granted to Antoine Crozat, a wealthy
French merchant, a monopoly of the granting of land, mines, and trade
for a period of fifteen years.1 This was done through La Motte Cadillac;
the governor and Cadillac joined Crozat in the deal. In 1715 Cadillac
received some fattijples of lead and silver ore from southeastern
Missouri, so he decided to visit that country. He passed through the
Arkansas Indian villages and the Arkansas trading post. The post might
have been deserted at the time. There were then probably not over
thirty or forty families in the Whole Louisiana territory. Cadillac's
party discovered a lead mine on the headwaters of the St. Francis River,
but no gold or silver was found, and he considered the expedition a
failure.
Crozat himself never came to Louisiana. He was only interested in
it as a money making proposition; No valuable minerals were found,
and he made no advantageous trade agreements with the Spaniards.
The Chickasaw Indians, possibly stirred up by English traders, gave
trouble. The French traders and hunters were displeased because of the
low price Crozat paid for hides and furs. Every trader had to secure a
license from him. He punished severely those who violated this
regulation; Cadillac, himself, wrote: "This colony is a monster without head
or tail. . . . Has it not been asserted that there are mines in Arkansas
and elsewhere? It is a deliberate error. Has not a set of novel writers
published that this is a paradise? ... I never saw anything so
worthless. . . I do not believe that there is in the universe another such
government." Crozat, like King Louis XIV, found Louisiana too
expensive, and surrendered his charter in 1717.
_____________________
The next person to take the Louisiana white elephant was the notorious
John Law, a native Scotchman, then in France; a refugee, a gambler,
but withal, a shrewd, energetic man. He knew a great deal, or thought
he did, about banking and big business.
In 1717 John Law organized the Western Company to exploit the
resources of Louisiana. King Louis gave the company a charter;
granting to it the exclusive right of land grants, coasts, islands, and harbors;
the sole regulation of all trade and prices; the power to appoint and
dismiss officials, and to levy and collect taxes and customs. It received all
equipment, warehouses, supplies, and arms owned or held by either
Crozat or France in Louisiana. The company was required to settle 6,000
colonists and 3,000 slaves within the territory during a period of
twenty-five years. The Indians were to be instructed.
False reports of the riches and resources of Louisiana were
broadcast over France in order to rush the sale of shares in the company.
Louisiana gold was shown on the streets of Paris. New Orleans was
represented as a beautiful and flourishing city.
Law and his company certainly gave Louisiana and the Arkansas
section a vigorous boost. Many thrifty, industrious settlers and slaves
were brought. But some of the emigrants were kidnapped; some were
"runaway creditors" "miserable wretches," "vagabonds," and "fallen
women." In all, over 7,000 settlers and 600 negroes in forty-three
boatloads came to Louisiana. Trade and agriculture grew. In 1718, New
Orleans was made the capital of the province.2
Law himself had believed in the scheme. He secured a beautiful,
fertile tract of land, twelve miles square on the left side of the Arkansas
River and above Arkansas Post. It included some Indian villages and
fields. For this grant Law was required to settle 1,500 people on the land
and to keep some soldiers there to protect the colony.
Directors were at once sent out with one hundred men in five small
boats to make preparations for the coming of this colony. A great store
house for supplies was built. In it were to be stored the provisions and
tools to be sold to the settlers. Cabins for the colonists were built. These
preparations were no doubt very strange proceedings to the few roving
hunters and Indians about Arkansas Post.
Some slaves were purchased for this colony and trained workers and
laborers, mostly from the Germanies, were sent over. It is said that Law
planned to send at least 9,000 Germans from the Palatinate on the Rhine.
In the fall of 1720, 250 settlers came and the next spring more arrived.
Some historians say that he sent, in all, 700 German families, and spent
$300,000 of his own money on the project.3 Many of these people died on
_______
2. Ogg. 210-12.
3. Bancroft; History of United States, II, 354.

CHAPTER III.
ARKANSAS UNDER THE OLD FRENCH REGIME, 1700-63.
During this time, 1700 to 1763, several governors had charge of the
settlements and posts in Louisiana, winch included all the Mississippi
Valley south of the Illinois country. The settlers, as a rule, did not
prosper; malaria and yellow fever killed many of them, and they spent too
much time hunting mines, pearls, buffalo wool (!), hides and furs. Some
of the Governors were very corrupt and inefficient. Nothing was done to
settle the interior of the country and Tonty's post on the Arkansas was
neglected.
The first attention the Arkansas region received was in 1712. Louis
XIV, having become wearied with the heavy expenditures necessary for
the government of Louisiana, granted to Antoine Crozat, a wealthy
French merchant, a monopoly of the granting of land, mines, and trade
for a period of fifteen years.1 This was done through La Motte Cadillac;
the governor and Cadillac joined Crozat in the deal. In 1715 Cadillac
received some fattijples of lead and silver ore from southeastern
Missouri, so he decided to visit that country. He passed through the
Arkansas Indian villages and the Arkansas trading post. The post might
have been deserted at the time. There were then probably not over
thirty or forty families in the Whole Louisiana territory. Cadillac's
party discovered a lead mine on the headwaters of the St. Francis River,
but no gold or silver was found, and he considered the expedition a
failure.
Crozat himself never came to Louisiana. He was only interested in
it as a money making proposition; No valuable minerals were found,
and he made no advantageous trade agreements with the Spaniards.
The Chickasaw Indians, possibly stirred up by English traders, gave
trouble. The French traders and hunters were displeased because of the
low price Crozat paid for hides and furs. Every trader had to secure a
license from him. He punished severely those who violated this
regulation; Cadillac, himself, wrote: "This colony is a monster without head
or tail. . . . Has it not been asserted that there are mines in Arkansas
and elsewhere? It is a deliberate error. Has not a set of novel writers
published that this is a paradise? ... I never saw anything so
worthless. . . I do not believe that there is in the universe another such
government." Crozat, like King Louis XIV, found Louisiana too
expensive, and surrendered his charter in 1717.
_____________________
The next person to take the Louisiana white elephant was the notorious
John Law, a native Scotchman, then in France; a refugee, a gambler,
but withal, a shrewd, energetic man. He knew a great deal, or thought
he did, about banking and big business.
In 1717 John Law organized the Western Company to exploit the
resources of Louisiana. King Louis gave the company a charter;
granting to it the exclusive right of land grants, coasts, islands, and harbors;
the sole regulation of all trade and prices; the power to appoint and
dismiss officials, and to levy and collect taxes and customs. It received all
equipment, warehouses, supplies, and arms owned or held by either
Crozat or France in Louisiana. The company was required to settle 6,000
colonists and 3,000 slaves within the territory during a period of
twenty-five years. The Indians were to be instructed.
False reports of the riches and resources of Louisiana were
broadcast over France in order to rush the sale of shares in the company.
Louisiana gold was shown on the streets of Paris. New Orleans was
represented as a beautiful and flourishing city.
Law and his company certainly gave Louisiana and the Arkansas
section a vigorous boost. Many thrifty, industrious settlers and slaves
were brought. But some of the emigrants were kidnapped; some were
"runaway creditors" "miserable wretches," "vagabonds," and "fallen
women." In all, over 7,000 settlers and 600 negroes in forty-three
boatloads came to Louisiana. Trade and agriculture grew. In 1718, New
Orleans was made the capital of the province.2
Law himself had believed in the scheme. He secured a beautiful,
fertile tract of land, twelve miles square on the left side of the Arkansas
River and above Arkansas Post. It included some Indian villages and
fields. For this grant Law was required to settle 1,500 people on the land
and to keep some soldiers there to protect the colony.
Directors were at once sent out with one hundred men in five small
boats to make preparations for the coming of this colony. A great store
house for supplies was built. In it were to be stored the provisions and
tools to be sold to the settlers. Cabins for the colonists were built. These
preparations were no doubt very strange proceedings to the few roving
hunters and Indians about Arkansas Post.
Some slaves were purchased for this colony and trained workers and
laborers, mostly from the Germanies, were sent over. It is said that Law
planned to send at least 9,000 Germans from the Palatinate on the Rhine.
In the fall of 1720, 250 settlers came and the next spring more arrived.
Some historians say that he sent, in all, 700 German families, and spent
$300,000 of his own money on the project.3 Many of these people died on
_______
2. Ogg. 210-12.
3. Bancroft; History of United States, II, 354.